"Table, set yourself," said the man
The table remained standing in the center of the floor just as it was.
"What trick is this?" asked the good wife. She had been a bit suspicious from the moment she had heard that there was no money in her husband's pockets.
"I'll get the beggars I fed to prove to you what this table provided yesterday," he said when he had told all the story.
"You'd better go back to the king as fast as you can," advised the wife. "Take back this good-for-nothing table which he has imposed upon you and ask for some real money instead."
The man did as his wife advised. The king was thoughtful for a moment. He guessed that the man had been robbed.
At last he said: "I'll give you a sifter this time. Then when you need money all you have to do is to say, 'Sifter, sift!' It will sift out money as freely as if it were flour."
The man was delighted with the sifter. He sifted his pockets full of money immediately and hurried home. On the way he again spent the night at the inn.
"When I brought my table home it wouldn't work," he told the innkeeper. "I took it back and got something in its place which is all right."
The innkeeper watched him sift out money.